Tuesday in the Stars
by tickwordstockwords
Summary: The Doctor meets a new companion in the most unlikely of places - within the Tardis.
1. Chapter 1

The door was a foot away, six inches, three inches, at her fingertips. She grabbed the handle, pulled it open, and she was inside. Eyes closed, shoulders shaking, she leaned against the door and slid down until the reached the floor. Sleep took her instantly.

* * *

><p><em>Running, running, running<em>, thought the Doctor with a grin, _is that all I ever do? No, shut up, stay focused. You're running for a reason._

He barely made it inside the Tardis when a BOOM shook the air. "Well," the Doctor said aloud, "that took care of itself nicely". A lever was pulled, a dial spun, and the Tardis spun off through the time vortex.

* * *

><p>A hallway filled with smoke. Footsteps. Screams. She gasped awake in an unfamiliar bed.<em> What is this place? How did I get here? <em>she thought frantically. The last thing she remembered was running for the strange blue box.

* * *

><p>She had been at the hospital when the alarms started going off and the screaming had started. They had cleared everyone out with no explanation, but outside it was no better. You could barely see for all the smoke. There were so many people; she was hardly able to move. Then all of a sudden, she was alone. A scream erupted behind her, and she started to run out of panic and confusion. Something blue appeared through the smoke. The closer she got, the clearer it became. It was a funny looking blue shed of sorts, but it could've been a shoebox for all she cared. She ran for it, desperate for any sort of refuge.<p>

_So where am I now?_ she wondered. Not that she was complaining; the room was magnificent. She was lying in a bed in the center of a large bedroom. Its walls were painted with thousands of fiery stars that shone with such a light they seemed as though they had been snatched straight out of the sky. Behind the stars, the walls were a bluish black that never seemed to settle no matter how long she stared. Despite the dark walls, the room glowed with a strange golden light. With no obvious point of origin, it seemed to dance through the air as if it were alive.

She looked down at herself. No longer was she wearing the rotten hospital gown she remembered from the night before. In its place was a long nightgown of shimmering blue. "Wow," she marveled aloud. _Hold on, _she thought_, I don't remember changing._ Pushing that worrisome thought aside, she pulled off the covers and stepped out of bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Holding her breath, she peeked around the corner of the first doorway she came to. She was at the top of a set of stairs that led into a cavernous room even more incredible than the one she woke up in. All circles and angles, it was like nothing she had ever seen before. In the center of the room was a huge column that widened at hip-height. The wide part of the column stretched out horizontally like a hexagon and was covered in levers, knobs, buttons and gadgets. The floor beneath the column was a glass octagon while the walls were curved and constructed out of an unfamiliar coral-like material. Greenish-blue light lit the room from below, while the same dancing orange light that she had seen in the bedroom floated above.

Taking in the room as a whole, she was strongly reminded of a human heart. Peering into that room made her feel as if she had opened up someone's chest and was seeing their very essence; what made them tick. Tucked by the stairs she stood on was a door that didn't quite fit with the rest of the room. It was wood, and painted a very plain white. It looked as though it could've fit an old-fashioned call-box.

The most peculiar sight of all was that of two legs sticking out from underneath the column. Someone was fiddling with its mechanics – was it an engine of sorts? – and humming as they worked. Inching closer for a better look, she stubbed her toe on a wrench that had been dropped on the floor. Biting her lip and holding back a curse, she picked up the wrench. She made her way down the stairs, her bare feet padding silently on the metal steps.

As she approached, the humming grew louder. One of the feet sticking out from under the console – it was a console, right? – was wiggling along to the tune. Not knowing what to say to get the humming mechanic's attention, she cleared her throat.

"Ahem."

The Doctor sat up in surprise, his forehead colliding with the underbelly of the Tardis' console.

"Oh! Eurgh, ow. . ."

He scooted out and sat up. In front of him stood a raven-haired girl in a nightgown, wielding a wrench.


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor stared ahead, speechless. There was a girl. In his Tardis. Holding up a wrench that she looked quite willing to use as a weapon.

She looked at him expectantly. "Um, hi," she said. She didn't lower the wrench. "So, where am I?"

Girls can't keep popping up in his Tardis. There must be some sort of anti-random-girl-appearing shield that he had never known about before that was broken. He made a mental note to check on that.

He still hadn't answered her question. Maybe he had hit his head a bit too hard. Her arm was getting sore from holding up the wrench, so she tried again. "I'm Tuesday, who are you?"

Ooh, he knew this one. "Doctor! I mean, uh, I'm the Doctor."

"From the hospital?" she asked. "So what happened last night?"

He ignored the first question. "There were a few things running around. They were making a mess and I cleaned it up."

He never seemed to stop moving. He hadn't gotten up from the floor, but he never stopped gesturing. He had already straightened his bow-tie, stuck his thumbs under his suspenders, waved his hands through the air, and his eyes were as wide as the sky.

"Huh," she said. This guy was a bit odd. But that didn't explain where she was. "All I can remember is hiding in some blue shed, so how did I get here? And what is_ here_ anyways?"

A grin split his face and he bounded up off the floor. "My Tardis!" he said, his arms opened wide.

Her head tilted to the right like a puppy that heard a far-away noise. "Your Tardis," she said, "and what exactly is a Tardis?"

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space," he said with a hint of pride in his voice, "it's a ship of sorts."

So she was right, the column was an engine.

"She must have known you needed a place to go, so she let you inside," he continued.

"What do you mean, 'she knew'? It's a ship; it's not as if it's alive. And I went inside a little shed, not this huge thing!"

"Well that's just it; she looks like a police call box from the 1960's. It's how she disguises herself. And yes, she's a ship, but she is most definitely alive," he countered indignantly.

"Right, sure, uh-huh. You expect me to believe it's bigger on the inside? Not likely. And _ship_? What does it do, fly or something?"

"Well, yes. Through space and time," he stated plainly. He didn't understand what was so difficult to grasp about that.

Okay, this guy was a nut job for sure. It most certainly had an engine, she could see that clearly. But fly and travel through time? She needed to sit down.

She sat down.

The Doctor could see she was having a bit of a time dealing with this. "What's your name?" he asked, trying to distract her.

"Tuesday," she said with her eyes to the floor

"Tuesday! Who names their child Tuesday?"

She looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. "My parents aren't the most creative people. I was born on a Tuesday, so my name's Tuesday. Problem?"

"No! I quite like it," he reassured her.

"And you said you were the Doctor? Doctor who, exactly?"

"Just the Doctor."

"Right. Okay." There was absolutely nothing normal about this bloke. "I'm in a nightgown," she realized out loud. "How do you explain that one, Doctor?"

"Sorry!" he said, cringing, "that was the TARDIS." Her eyes narrowed even further.

"Is there something I can change in to?" she asked.

"There's a closet just down the hall to the left."

She left the room, her head still buzzing.


	4. Chapter 4

Eyes wide, she walked slowly through the room and trailed her hand along the garments that hung against the wall. Making her way past Renaissance-era gowns and corsets from the 1700's, she found herself among more familiar clothing. There were a few hoodies and sweatpants as well as denim skirts and plaid shirts. There was even a t-shirt decorated like the Union Jack.

As she pulled on a tank-top and a pair of overalls, she wondered who the clothing belonged to. Where were they now? Her cold feet brought her out of her reverie, and she went in search of shoes. She settled on a pair of flowery Doc Martens and made her way back to the console room.

"Doctor," Tuesday began, "Who does it all belong to? The clothing, I mean."

He poked his head around the console to look at her. "Oh, they're just odds and ends that got left behind."

"But whose were they? Who left them behind?"

"The ones who traveled with me; my companions."

Companions. Why would he use such an old-fashioned word? Why not just say 'friends'? "Where are they now?" she couldn't help but ask.

He faltered. "Well, everyone leaves eventually."

"You mean they _die_?" She whispered the last word fearfully.

His eyes saddened and he looked away. "I live a long time. Humans don't."

She shuffled her feet uncomfortably and wished she hadn't asked. But she couldn't help herself from continuing. "What about others like you? Don't you ever travel with them?"

"Timelords, you mean? No. I'm the last of my kind."

"Oh. Um. I'm, uh—"

He gave her a comforting smile , but the sadness in his eyes was still there. It was an old kind of sadness. It was in this moment, when the corners of his mouth went up and his lips pressed together but his smile ended there, when his green-blue eyes seemed to go on forever like the sea, when his whole demeanor seemed heavy and ancient, that she saw who he was. An old man. A very old man.

And as her mind swam with the ancient, the kind, and the questions that can never be answered, he asked her the question that would change her life.

"Would you like to come with me?"

She stood and looked at the young old Doctor and said, "Yes. Yes of course I would."

His expression instantly flipped to one of immeasurable joy, and she couldn't help but feel the electricity of his presence. His happiness was infectious; she could feel it raising the corners of her mouth into a smile. Still grinning at her, he moved around the console, pulling levers and twiddling dials.

Buzzing with excitement, she drummed her hands against her sides. A noise like someone was driving with the brakes on filled the air, but Tuesday was surprised to discover that she found it rather pleasant, like a song. She could only focus on the noise for so long, though; the Tardis shook and wobbled, forcing her to stumble to the railing and hold on tight.

The noise and the shaking stopped at once, and the Doctor bounded to the little white door that had caught her attention not so long ago. His hand on the door, he turned back to her. "What are you waiting for?" he asked.

Needing no further enticement, she ran after him as he opened the door and stepped out into the light.

"_Where are we?_" she asked.


End file.
